Constructing a system for ranking the sexiest women of the decade is complete bullshit; beauty is too subjective. So instead, I’ve focused on a much more quantifiable quality: the “IT factor.” The IT factor is popularity on a global scale. It’s “hotness” in the Paris Hilton sense of the word. And while popularity isn’t an exact science, it’s much easier to gauge than beauty, as it can be measured by such things as the frequency of appearances on magazine covers, top whatever lists, and Google hits. While physical attractiveness is often an important component of the IT factor, this quality is also impacted by a variety of elements: talent, socializing practices, the size of one’s ass, sexual flings, sex tapes, and drug habits. While the IT factor isn’t always positive, often passing between celebrities like a game of tag, or an STD, or a bag of cocaine, who our culture chooses to gossip about says something about who we are as a culture.
2000: Jennifer Lopez and her ass. Although it’s been more than a decade since Jennifer Jopez’s ass first captured our hearts and minds, its contributions to how we define beauty can still be seen on the red carpet in the asses of Kim Kardashian and Beyonce Knowles. Her rise to fame began when she perfected her rock hard ass as a dancer on In Living Color (1990-1994). She broke onto the national scene as an actress in Selena (1997). But, it wasn’t until the release of her first solo album On the 6 (1999), that Lopez truly established herself as an IT girl. To cement her prominence, she began dating music mogul Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, who transformed Lopez into J.Lo. In 2000, she expanded her influence, crossing over into the fashion world by becoming the face of L’Oreal Cosmetics.
FULL LIST HERE
